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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-11-30, Page 1Gidercteh SIGNAL— STA 13 ► YEAR -48 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1983 50 CENTS PER COPY Russian freighter is first to load in Goderich The first Russian freighter to ever visit Goderich entered port here Wednesday to take on a part load of corn at Goderich Elevator before later making its way to Cuba. The freighter, registered out of the Soviet port of Odessa, was to have cleared harbour Friday but problems encountered in loading the twin -decker, delayed the departure. Ivan McConnell of Goderich Elevator explained that twin -decked boats, more suited for cargo other than grain, are awkward to load and require a great deal of manual labour. The -Russian freighter was still taking on part of its 7,000 tonne load Monday before heading to Cuba via Sarnia and Baie- Comeau, Quebec. The 23 year-old, 170 metre plus, Russian freighter is based out of Odessa and captained by Nikolai Redenko, a frequent visitor to Canada. Of Ukrainian descent, Redenko, like 30 per cent of his 48 crew members, speaks limited English, just enough to ably communicate his thoughts. A sailor for the past 25 years, Redenko first visited Canada in 1964 and took in the sights of Montreal, a city he claims is one of world's finest but he adds that it was "too much years ago." Goderich is, naturally, the smallest port of destination for the Russian crew, but it is now a town they would like to visit again. "My crew members have gone shopping and they have observed your museum and streets and buildings," Redenko said. "Your town is very beautiful." While the captain and his crew may be taken with the geographical and aesthetic charm of the town, they are also im- pressed with the friendliness of its inhabitants. "The people of town express great pleasure to meet crew members," he said. "They say too much. They just buy one souvenir in shop and they say good night and all the best to you. It is too much." Goderich Mayor Eileen Palmer presented Russian captain, Nikolai Redenko, with several souvenirs of his visit to Goderich. In return, Redenko presented mayor Palmer with a Soviet flag. Redenko is the first Russian captain to visit the Port of Goderich and he said the crew was impressed with our "beautiful town." (photo by Dave Sykes ) Having left his home port of Odessa October 15 to assume his duties, Redenko says he will be entitled to a vacation at the conclusion of this mission. He estimates the return trip to Russia would take 15 days. The general rule calls for crew members to work six to eight months before taking up to six months off. While his crew represents six satellite Soviet nations, most of them are from the Odessa area. The captain and his crew are suitably impressed with Canada and when asked ifn " Canadian beer met his standards, Redenko replied, "Yes, of course." But Canada is much more than that, even to. a Russian sailor and Redenko commented that "Canada is clean and clear and you have good buildings." The first Russian freighter to visit Goderich Harbour arrived light last Wednesday to take on a partial load of corn destined for Cuba. A spokesman at Goderich Elevator said the freighter was a twin -decker and more difficult to load than a conventional lake freighter. On Monday, crews were still loading the Soviet ship, which was expected to clear harbour Friday. It will proceed to Cuba stopping in Sarnia and Bale -Comeau, Quebec. ( photo by Dave Sykes) Goderich fire calls to be handled by police dispatchers starting December 9 Goderich fire calls will be handled by the dispatchers with the Huron Municipal Police Communications System beginning December 9. This target date was set at a Goderich Police Commission meeting last week after approval was received from three of the other four towns using the communications system. Exeter is the only town asking for fur- ther clarification of the matter and Goderich Town Clerk Larry McCabe has been instructed to write a letter of ex- planation to that town's officials. Clinton, Seaforth and Wingham have all given approval of the new system of answering tire calls in Goderich. The new system is being implemented on a trial basis and will be reviewed at the end of one year. Police Chief Pat King is presently working with Bell Canada to achieve the best possible hook-up between the fire hall -and the police station where the communications system is housed. The Goderich Fire Department will pay for the cost of this hook-up as well as an extra $2,000 which will be credited to the police communications budget. The Town of Goderich pays 38 per cent of this budget on a per capita basis. The other four county towns share the remainder of the budget also on a per capita basis. The Goderich Fire Department emergency number will remain the same under the new system and an ad will be placed in the Signal -Star explaining this to the public. The old system of answering fire calls here relied heavily on the members of the firemen's families who were required to answer special phones in their homes. It is felt that the new system will be much safer and more efficient with professional dispatchers handling the calls. The other towns using the police com- munications system have not expressed 6 desire to enter their fire calls on the system at this time but they have the option open to them in the future. That's him! The youngster on Santa's knee appears to pull back for a better look during a visit to Santa's Court at The Livery following the parade Saturday. Hundreds of children visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus and received a treat courtesy of the recreation depart- ment. More.. photos of Santa's Court and the parade appear inside. (photo by Joanne Buchanan) anta Claus parade f€alured4O Santa arrived in Goderich on Saturday for the annual Santa Claus Parade sponsored by the Goderich Recreation Department. This year's parade consisted of bands and floats, totalling approximately 40 entries, ac- cording to Recreation Director Jane Netzke. An added surprise for the children in the crowd was Twinkles the Elf (Joanne Doherty) who, on behalf of the Tourist Committee, selected two children to receive stuffed animals. The lucky children were April Courtney of Bayfield and William King of Dungannon. Individual entries in the 1983 Goderich Santa Claus Parade went to Benji Crane, second place went to The Bluewater Sidekicks and placing third were Jeff and Tim Good. ,e.ntrentre In . the Youth category, Goderich Municipal Nursery School finished first, the Pathfinders placed second and the First and Third Goderich Girl Guides were third. Vanastra Public School placed first in the school division with Colborne Central coming second and St. Mary's - St. Peter's placing third. Dearborn Steel Products Inc. were first place winners in the commercial category with Val's Beauty Salon second and Moffat and Powell Ltd. third. The non-commercial winner was the Rotary Club of Goderich while Huron County Pioneer Museum finished second and Goderich Little Theatre came third. When the parade was over Santa went to the Livery to hear the children's wishes for Chirstmas presents. Gregg will head centre for young offenders The Bluewater Centre for the Developmentally Handicapped is slowly, but surely, relinquishing its role as a home for handicapped adults. Wednesday, November 30 was the second target date in the scheduled closure of the centre, but 26 residents still remained at the facility. By the end of the week, 16 of those residents will have been placed, and the remaining 10 will find new homes by mid-December. While centre administrator Bill Gregg is overseeing the details involved with the closure he will soon be responsible for the conversion of the centre into a young of- fenders facility. Last week, Gregg was designated superintendent of the facility, a position he will assume and accept willingly. "I am pleased that I am the designated superintendent of the new facility," he said in an interview Tuesday. "I am pleased that I have the opportunity to remain here in Huron County, it is my home and I enjoy it. I am pleased that I will have the opportunity to work with some of the staff from the centre who will remain on staff. And I am pleased to have the challenge of providing an extension of this new service to children." Gregg has enjoyed an extensive career as a civil servant. He began as an elementary teacher and gravitated toward special education. He worked at the Windsor Western Hospital for five years and was later appointed director of the Regional Children's Centre. In 1975 Gregg accepted a position with the Ministry of Community and Social Services and in 1976 was appointed ad- ministrator of the Bluewater Centre when it was converted from a psychiatric facility to a centre for the developmentally handicapped. His role as administrator is slowly winding down and while he expects that only 10 of the present 26 residents will be at the centre at week's end, he is proceeding with caution. "The commitments for residents are herebut we're still prof eeding cautious- ly." he said. "Nobody is being pushed out the door into another home. "Some of the delay is because homes in some areas are being refurbished or furniture is late in arriving. In the case of Wiarton, where a brand new home was built, it simply wasn't ready for oc- cupancy." To date, 125 of the centre's residents have been placed in new group homes across Southwestern Ontario in an attempt to keep residents as close as possible to family and friends. Only one facility, a six - bed group home in Clinton, has opened in this area. ' The staff will have been reduced to 69 as of Wednesday and Gregg said That about 16 employees will remain on staff beyond the closure of the centre to maintain the facility. Subsequent to the closure of the centre, Gregg will slide into his new position and get involved with the architects on the multi-million dollar renovation project that will convert the centre into a correction facility. He will also oversee tendering details on the renovation project and he expects the tendering process to be initiated by mid-February. While Gregg will occupy the same office after the closure he said it "certainly will be different because the family will have left." It was just in September that Provincial Secretary for Justice, Gord Walker, an- nounced that millions of dollars would be spent to convert the facility into a regional detention centre for 'young offenders. The Young Offenders Act was passed by the federal government in 1982 but cost- sharing agreements have not been worked out. The act will be proclaimed April 1, ' 1984 and the province must be in a position to accept young offenders by April 1,1985. Until then, millions of dollars .will be spent converting the centre into a detention facility. The province is com- mitted to creating two regional detention centres for young offenders between the ages of 12 and 17. About 180 young people will be accomrnod_ated in the two regional centres and the Goderich facility will employ about 180 people. Wind causes power failure The Goderich area was without hydro early Monday morning becuase of a broken insulator at the Seaforth Transformer Station. The strong winds blew the conductor which leads towards Clinton, into the top o4 a pole, breaking the insulator which caused slack In the wire, not allowing the electricity to pass through. According to Evert Middel, acting manager at the Goderich Public Utilities Commission, the hydro was off for a few minutes before 8 a.m. and came on a few minutes after 8 a.m., only to go off for another hour at 8:15 a.m. Contact space shuttle via radio On Monday NASA put another space shuttle in orbit from the Kennedy Space Centre. One of the scientists aboard the shuttle is an amateur radio announcer and will be accepting calls from various areas as he passes over them. For C.B. owners in the Goderich area, they can contact the shuttle on the dates listed below. The shuttle will be overhead for approximately eight minutes, so not everyone will be able to get through. Times the shuttle can be contacted are: Thursday, December 1 at 8:58 a.m., 10:28 a.m. and 9:10 p.m.; December 2 at 8:47 a.m.; December 3 at 8: 36 a.m.; December 4 at 8:25 ann.; December 5 at 8:13 a.m., 9:42. a.m. ; December 6 at 8 a.m. and 9:29 a.m. Frequencies are: 145.530, 145.550, 145.570 and 145.575. Will improve TV reception The quality of United States reception on Cable TV will soon be improved by a satellite signal, but subscribers to Bluewater TV Cable will have to pay a higher rate. Cancom (Canadian Satellite Com- munications .Limited) was established to serve small communities with four Canadian and four American stations, but some stations from the U.S. are weak, so cable systems are applying for thea Cancom foreign signals. Don Stinson of Bluewater TV Cable Limited has heard that the Cancom satellite package has-been approved, but has not received any written details. It is hoped that the satellite reception will be ready by the new year. For the Goderich and Clinton area sub- scribers, the new rate will be approximately $10.50 a month. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Twinkles the Elf M. Kalynuik, a war veteran from Westminister Hospital in London, enjoys a dance with Twinkles the Elf (Joanne Doherty) at the annual war veterans' Christmas party held at Legion Branch 109 in Goderich last Wednesday. The vets were treated to entertainment, dinner, and a visit from Santa Claus. For more pic- tures, iatures, have a look in this section of the paper. Ringette action The senior ringette team is having a fine season so far this year, with most of their players performing well. On Sunday they faced some tough competition from the Seaforth team, but managed to pull off a 9- 7 victory. The Goderich juniors didn't do as well when they met Listowel last week, losing 14-7. For pictures and complete details, have a look at the Recreation section. Juvenile hockey The Goderich juvenile Signal Stars have yet to be defeated this season, although they did come close to losing when they faced -off against St. Marys on Sunday. For the complete story, take a look in the Recreation section.